Harold Polk’s mastery of language turns everyday phrases into tools of subtle influence, each carefully crafted to direct attention and control focus, whether in the courtroom or in casual conversation. His words are designed to blend seamlessly into any setting, creating a form of linguistic programming that shapes perception without raising suspicion. In the courtroom, phrases like “Objection,” “Eyes Only,” “Under Review,” “Leading the Witness,” and “Relevance” grant him control over proceedings, guiding attention where he needs it. In more covert settings, phrases such as “Just Between Us,” “By the Way,” “In the Meantime,” “That Reminds Me,” and “One More Thing” allow him to divert focus, prompt hesitation, or subtly steer actions, all within the flow of casual conversation. Each phrase becomes a tool of influence, enabling Harold to shape interactions with language alone, whether he’s in court or blending into the background.
Spend an Action. A number of Sapient, Living targets within 50 feet who can perceive you through no greater than your Charisma rating are affected. Audiences or mobs with a singular focus count as one target. Roll Charisma + Culture at Difficulty 6. All affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
If you succeed, the targets will keep their full attention focused on you for as long as you maintain Concentration. They will automatically fail any rolls related to noticing anything other than you.
If you pass from their perception and they are unable to pursue you, the Effect ends. If they can follow you, they must do so for 2 Rounds or the Effect will end. The Effect ends early if the target is Injured or violence occurs nearby.
This does not affect the target’s opinion of you or their mood, and they may take any Actions while affected (including attacking), as long as that action centers on you. Fascinated targets cannot Concentrate.
You may activate this Effect as a Reaction to contest any Action a valid target is taking. The target does not roll to resist, and beating their Outcome does not fascinate them. This interrupts Concentration.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
Bill keeps his important possessions stored in a pocket realm which he can access through the sleeve of his shirt.
Spend a Quick Action. You must actively and obviously use your sleeves to activate this Effect.
You may withdraw an item from your stash, or add an item that is within arm’s reach to your stash. You may only stash targets which are in your possession, grappled, or otherwise controlled by you.
You may store Objects in your stash, each no larger than something which could fit inside a ziploc snack bag (1 liter), and you may store up to 7 things at a time.
You may choose to equip any equipment you withdraw at no additional cost.
It presents itself as a physical manifestation which takes the form of a small, yellow, humanoid creature with several vertical lines around its eyes and a small amount of hair, which lies in a curl on top of its head. It has butterfly-like wings with a large halo floating behind its head.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within 20 feet. Roll Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target may contest by Defending or Dodging.
If you succeed, your target will be restricted at their location by a physical, tangible binding. They cannot move to a new location, and, if your Contested Outcome was greater than their Brawn, they are encased and cannot take any physical Actions other than attempting to escape until they break free.
Restricted targets may escape their binding by spending an Action and taking a Severity-1 Injury. Their movement is reduced by 10 feet until the Injury heals.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see an abhorrent spirit.
The user and target appear to be deep in conversation, the target usually nodding their head rather than talking.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend at least one Action. Select a Human target within 20 feet. Your target cannot be engaged in Combat. Communicate a command to your target. Roll Charisma + Alertness at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
If the contested Outcome is positive, your target will be compelled to follow your command to their best understanding of the letter and spirit of the command until they have completed it or for your Contested Outcome in minutes. You cannot issue another suggestion to the target until 10 minutes after they have completed the first command or 10 minutes after a failure.
The target is unaware that they are under supernatural influence and feel they are acting of their own free will. If you fail, they realize that you were attempting to influence them supernaturally with your command.
Your command can be an order to take an immediate Action. You cannot order a target to "do nothing," and they are free to take other Actions as they fulfill your request. Your command cannot be obviously self-destructive. The Effect ends if following your command would cause a target to cross one of their Limits in a way that would necessitate a Trauma roll.
My eyes fixate on a particular being. All they see is the red in my eyes. Glowing.
Except they aren’t, they’re just mildly sore.
Spend an Action. Select a target within 300 feet. This Effect cannot be used unless :, target is within range, is Animate, and user is conscious.
Your target is marked with “Gaze”. The mark can only be discovered with a deep medical inspection or Effect. Removal inflicts a Severity 1 Injury on the target.
You are aware of the marked target's vital status, injuries, direction and distance from you. This lasts for the next month, or until either the mark is removed, or you choose to end the Effect. You can have up to 1 mark active.
You may activate another Effect through your Mark as though you were standing at its location. This destroys the Mark.
You receive +2 dice to any rolls made against a marked target.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
This Effect ends if you are stunned, fall asleep, go unconscious, are incapacitated, die, or if your total Stress ever exceeds 5.
"Have you seen something?" a sudden step forward, move slowly, focus on their pattern. Understand. Everyone. Never stop hiding.
"You're definitely paranoid" a head turn, 57° to the left. Right ankle down, torso to the left, take advantage of the light pole.
"Wait, what's that?" Shit. Be fast. Be swift. Cover the hand with the shadow, move slowly. A head turn, 35° to the right: MOVE. NOW.
"Bro, chill."
After trying for years to go unnoticed and to remove your toxic friendships and relationships you develop a particular way of being: your arms move in unnatural ways, your every step bends at peculiar degrees, you have managed to spot major blind spots in the line of sight of everyone around you. By exploiting this knowledge you get to be really difficult to notice, maybe someone may catch a glimpse of your silhouette, but you just need to break sight for mere moments to get unseen again.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You are obscured in one of the following manners. You may Spend an Action to change the way in which you're concealed.
While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you from other, additional senses fails automatically. If someone discovers you, this Effect will not help you hide from them for the next minute. Activating a targeted or obvious Effect, attacking, or being Injured ends the Effect. When the Effect ends, it is disabled for one minute.
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: -5 feet of speed while the effect is active.
The Necromancer temporarily assumes the form of their own corpse, complete with maggots, spilled entrails, and exposed bone. They cannot move while transformed, but their empty eye sockets see as well as ever.
Exert your Mind and Spend an Action.
You transform into your own corpse for one minute. While transformed, you may control the functioning of the object you have transformed into. You can perceive your surroundings as normal. You can be targeted as a Non-Living, Sapient Object.
If you are damaged while transformed, the damage is realized when you return to normal. If you are damaged before you transform, your inanimate form will appear partially damaged.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
The Thief examines an object closely for a minute to appraise its value. As their eyes dance across the subject, their pupils split vertically, and their irises fade to gold. If it is a particularly valuable item, the Thief may greedily lick their lips, revealing a forked tongue.
Within a minute, they have determined how materially valuable the object is and why.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a target Object within arm's reach. At the end of your investigation, roll Charisma + Culture at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
The mutant's arms swell to an incredible size, forcing them to lope around like a gorilla. This allows them to throw heavy objects great distances, including those unfortunate souls who find themselves in their way.
Unfortunately, they have difficulty with small objects and often destroy the things they touch by accident.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your Brawn rating is increased by 1. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Brawn (cannot be used on combat rolls or Effect activations).
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: You are muscled like a gorilla and have a slight muzzle and animal facial features.
You also gain the following effects:
The aquamancer dissolves into a flowing pool of semi-solid water. Anything they were carrying is left behind in a damp pile. While transformed, they may squeeze through tiny gaps, and are extremely resilient against most standard attacks.
Resolidifying is exhausting.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
You transform into a flowing pool of water for the next minute. You may end the effect early and return to your normal form at will. Your structure must remain relatively contiguous. Observers will view you as an unusual entity moving with a singular purpose.
While in this form, you can squeeze through any gap that is not water-tight.
Injuries from standard attacks are reduced to Severity 1, but Damage from AOE effects is increased by 1.
You cannot communicate or use equipment while transformed. Your equipment does not transform with you beyond basic body coverings. You cannot carry any items while transformed.
You have access to your Powers while transformed.
After this Effect ends, you cannot move quicker than a walk (15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour.
The Solider is accustomed to going long periods without food or water and can operate on very little sleep.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You may go five times longer than a normal human without food, water, sleep, and air. Any roll to resist an Effect dependent on any affected requirement is made at -1 Difficulty.